Arne Morris Sorenson (born 1959) is an American hotel executive. He is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Marriott International.^[1] A graduate of Luther College and the University of Minnesota Law School,^[2][3] Sorenson became the head of the largest publicly traded hotel chain in the world on March 31, 2012.^[4] He previously practiced law in Washington, D.C. with Latham and Watkins (specializing in mergers and acquisitions litigation^[5]), has been a director for Wal-Mart,^[6] and has served as the Chief Operating Officer for Marriott.^[7]

Career[edit]

Sorenson is the first person outside the Marriott family to lead the company.^[8] Sorenson heads a company strained by the economic difficulties since 2007, and which is attempting to rebuild its revenue base.^[9] He began his term as CEO with a trip to Brazil to inspect Marriott facilities there.^[10]

Personal life[edit]

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Sorenson is married, and has four children.

Sorenson is a registered Democrat,^[11] and led his company into advocating for LGBT rights. In recent years, he announced that he formally opposed Indiana's proposed Religious Freedom Restoration Act,^[12] and became one of many CEOs to ask for a full repeal of North Carolina's House Bill 2.^[13]

References[edit]